


The White Hat Protocol

by BlueStarOfTheSouth



Category: Phineas and Ferb
Genre: A lot - Freeform, But no actual crossover, Heinz is an actual genius, Milo Murphy's Law reference, OWCA (Phineas and Ferb), Owca Uprising AU, Perry is paranoid, Perry swears in his narration, Post-Movie: Across the 2nd Dimension (Phineas and Ferb), We're nuking Owca and making something better!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-26
Updated: 2020-12-26
Packaged: 2021-03-11 03:01:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,482
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28338126
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BlueStarOfTheSouth/pseuds/BlueStarOfTheSouth
Summary: Major Monogram decides to relocate Perry in the wake of the defeat of Second Dimension Doofenshmirtz.Perry decides that Owca has officially served its purpose, and it's time to do something about it.
Relationships: Heinz Doofenshmirtz & Perry the Platypus, Perry the Platypus & Flynn-Fletcher Kids
Comments: 10
Kudos: 41





	The White Hat Protocol

**Author's Note:**

> Blame the guys at the Tri-State Area server. They have some really cool ideas, and they made me think of this.
> 
> Merry Christmas/Hanuka/Kwanzaa/Winter Solstice/Whatever you celebrate this time of year. And, even if you don't celebrate: I hope you have a great time.
> 
> Link to my discord, if anyone wants it: (https://discord.gg/FCVcfCv)

**Perry**

The other Heinz, the dictator, was back in his own dimension, the robots were defeated, and the gate was closed.

We’d won.

But...

“You have five minutes.”

But Major Monogram was taking my entire world away, simply because I refused to allow the other Heinz to kill my boys.

And just then, watching as the Major turned his attention to something else, that I made my decision. It should have been hard, I should have needed at least a few minutes to make this decision.

But I refused to be separated from my family.

_ “Carl, can we initiate the White Hat Protocol?” _ I asked, thankful that Monogram had never bothered to learn sign. Another reason why few agents respected him, he couldn’t even be fucked to buy a damn Signing For Dummy’s book.

Carl, in response, froze for a moment after I gave my request. Unsurprising, given what I had just asked. But his eyes hardened, and the look he gave me reminded me why I trusted the intern, and he gave one decisive once and turned to distract Monogram for five minutes.

Five minutes that were quickly ticking away.

_ “Okay, I don’t have much time.” _ I began, marching up to my family, their friends, and Heinz.  _ “Heinz, I need you to leave yourself a note inside the compartment in your arm, don’t let Monogram know about it.” _

“And what message am I leaving, Perry the Platypus?” Heinz asked, already moving to do what I asked. I had never been so happy for the trust and faith my nemesis had in me, because I didn’t have a lot of time.

_ “Monogram wiped your mind, you need to build an -inator to remember, and then I want you to find my family. Use the white verification code.”  _ Heinz was responsible for all this, he’d made the portal that had let this entire situation play out, but I couldn’t blame him. Not truly. He came around when it really mattered, just like he always did.

Just like I was trusting him to now.

“The  _ white _ code?!” Heinz demanded, looking up from his left arm. “This is serious, Perry the Platypus…”

_ “I know, but I need you to do this for me.” _ He gave me a long look, as if weighing me against something, but he soon turned his attention back to his arm.

“Perry, what’s going on?” Phineas asked, kneeling down in front of me. I took a breath, steadying myself before I began signing. Phineas, Ferb, Candace, Heinz, and all of their friends crowded around me slightly, to watch.

_ “You’re going to forget today. They have a machine, it’s going to wipe all memory of today from your mind.” _ I began, trying not to let my shaking stop me from explaining. I had so little time.  _ “Heinz is leaving himself a message, to tell himself to build another machine that will make him remember.”  _

“But, but we don’t want to forget.” Phineas looked near tears, and I wanted so much to hug him and comfort him. But that would use my hands, and I needed them a bit longer to explain what was going to happen.

_ “It won’t be for long. Heinz checks his arms for messages every day, and it won’t take him long to make the machine to remember. After he remembers he’ll find you, and you’ll remember as well.”  _ I promised, putting all my faith in Heinz. Even if I had a choice in who to trust, I’d choose to trust Heinz, every time.  _ “And then I want you to do something for me.” _

It should have been worrying, how I had planned for this eventuality years ago. But I was trained to be a good little soldier. To take stock of every situation, to work out every way that it could possibly go wrong, and to plan for all eventualities.

No one had ever thought to consider that one such eventuality was Owca not being viable anymore. But I’d long since realized that Monogram’s leadership couldn’t last, not forever. He was too set in his ways, too stubborn, too slow, too unwilling to work  _ with _ those under his command.

He was also an idiot of the highest order, which didn’t help matters.

“What do we need to do?” Candace, who had grown up so much in the last twenty-four hours, asked me.

_ “I have a flash drive, hidden where no one from the agency would ever find it.” _ I explained.  _ “It has instructions on how to get me back.” _

“You planned for this.” Ferb, usually so quiet, realized. He looked calculating, probably wondering what I had planned.

I was confident that he wouldn’t guess my plan, but it was nice to see him trying to work it out.

I loved my kids sometimes.

_ “I never wrote down where the drive is,” _ I explained,  _ “But it’s somewhere that no one in the agency would ever think to look.” _

My boys were brilliant, smarter than anyone I’d ever known. They would only need a few hints to find it, and anything more than that overplayed my hand and risked Monogram finding out.

“Where is it?” Candace asked, looking mildly worried.

_ “Right here in Danville.” _ And wasn’t that the best part? I’d hidden the damn thing right under Monogram’s nose.  _ “I gave it to someone above reproach.” _

“And you expect us to find it with just that information?” Candace demanded, and I could see the fear giving way to a combination of annoyance and determination.

My boys may have been brilliant, but Candace had the kind of heart and soul that they could only dream of matching. There was a reason that she played a key role in so many of my plans for leaving the agency, just as many as my boys did.

My kids, all three of them, were absolutely amazing.

_ “I trust you.” _ I told her. Making a split second decision I decided to give another hint.  _ “Besides, I only really know about five humans. It’s not that hard to figure out.” _

After that I quickly changed the topic, moving on to the temporary goodbyes. Tears were had, resolves were hardened, and then there was a flash of light as my kids, their friends, and Heinz lost all memory of what was, for some of them, the best day of their lives.

I was transferred to Owca Headquarters for a few weeks, while the details of my next host family were finalized.

Perfect.

* * *

**Heinz**

I scowled as I started winding down for the night.

Something was wrong. Something was so very, very wrong.

I couldn’t remember the last several hours, not a single hint of them. I wasn’t stupid, I knew that was unusual. Even when I got into an inventing binge I kept enough awareness to remember individual days. I was a genius, and it wasn’t  _ arrogance _ to call myself that because I could prove it, I didn’t simply  _ lose days. _

Either I had suffered a serious head injury, which seemed unlikely given that I could find no evidence of such, or…

...or something had happened to me.

Luckily my nemesis was Perry the Platypus, and Perry the Platypus was quite paranoid. When he’d learnt of my mechanical arms he’d requested a few alterations. Most importantly, right now at least, were the digital notepads and small compartments that were hidden under the fake skin of my arms. Perry had gotten me into the habit of leaving important notes on them, of using certain code words, phrases, and numbers to verify if I had truly left them. I checked them every night and every morning, like clockwork, just to make sure I hadn’t left myself an important message and then had my memory wiped.

Like what seemed to be happening.

I moved into my safe room, the one that was shielded and protected against every kind of surveillance that I knew of, the one that Perry the Platypus insisted had to be swept for bugs every week, the one where I checked the messages in his arms.

There was nothing in my right arm, no note or item, but my left notepad revealed something there.

_ “Monobrow used an Amnesia-Inator on you. Build an -inator to remember. Find Perry the Platypus’s family. White Ocelot.” _ The final phrase was accompanied by a number, one that had never been written down, one that Perry had only given me while the two of us were deep under the ocean when he was supposed to be thwarting my then latest plot, when he had confirmed that no one was watching us.

The white verification code. The second highest level of verification that Perry had in our system. The only one that was higher meant that there was a clear and immediate danger to the people on The List.

I’d never looked at The List, never had the courage to open it. It was a dangerous thing that I’d been given, a burden that I sometimes wondered if I was worthy of. The List was the greatest symbol of trust that I had ever been given: It was the list of people that Perry the Platypus cared for, the list of people that Perry the Platypus loved, the list of people that Perry the Platypus worried about.

The list of people that Perry the Platypus trusted me to protect if anything ever happened to him.

That it was the white verification code was severe, it meant that things had gone  _ really _ bad, but I couldn’t help but feel a little relief when Is saw that I wouldn’t have to open The List.

Although it would seem that I was to find Perry’s family, who were most likely on The List.

Well, it wasn’t the first time I’d pulled an all nighter after a long day. I may not remember what I did today, but I soon would…

* * *

**Perry**

The days passed quickly at Headquarters, most of it a blur of activity. Not the paperwork that I’d been assigned, but passing notes between trusted agents and getting ready for what was to come.

The White Hat Protocol.

Strictly speaking it didn’t exist, because it wasn’t actually written down anywhere. It had been planned out by one of the past generations of agents, a plan in case the agency ever grew corrupt. It had been passed down, by word of mouth, from agent to agent for years.

And now I was calling it into action. I’d had to explain why of course, a few agents wanted to know what had finally set it all off, but all except the most loyal to the agency were on my side, and they were easily dealt with. 

It was convenient that they all got long term assignments away from Headquarters at the same time, but they couldn't argue with Monogram. 

Or with Carl faking Monogram’s signature on the paperwork. 

And while I waited, Heinz and my family moved. I couldn’t go near them, couldn’t even access security cameras to watch them, not without risking Monogram noticing and doing something about it.

But there were a few other agents that could watch the boys for me. One of the other Agent Ps, the chihuahua that lived on my street, helped out a bit there. A number of avian agents passed by my home, a few “stray cats”...

My street became quite popular. Not that Monogram noticed, because he didn’t seem to think that the other agents, my co-workers, my  _ friends _ would help me if I simply asked.

Idiot.

I got the message five days after returning from the Second Dimension, a coded missive that was passed to me in a camera dead spot when I happened to quite literally bump into Peter the Panda.

Apparently Heinz had been seen in Seattle again, causing a bit of mayhem over there. Without me around he was looking for someone else to thwart him, and Peter had done it in the past. Heinz liked consistency, liked being thwarted by agents he knew personally, so it wasn’t too surprising that he had gone after Peter.

That had been the explanation I had given to Monogram at least when he asked for my opinion on the matter.

The message had been simple, after I had decoded it. They’d found my flashdrive, had found my instructions and were moving to play their part in my plan. Heinz was doing nicely in Seattle, causing a nice big scene that drew the eye away from Danville.

Away from my family, who were already working hard if the message was to be believed.

_ “We move to phase two tomorrow.” _ I told Peter the Panda in the breakroom the next day. It wouldn’t take long for everyone involved to get notified, but a few of the details had to be acted upon at the last minute and they’d take a few hours.

_ “The shipment came in, so we’re all set.” _ Peter confirmed.  _ “I’ll coordinate with the others and get it all into position.” _

The rest of the day seemed to pass at an agonizingly slow pace, but I kept myself busy. Reports to fill, notices to file, messages to pass along, all that good stuff.

But, finally, the day came.

And the White Hat Protocol truly began.

* * *

**Vanessa**

“Vanessa, get in.” Dad greeted me, pulling up outside of Mom’s house. I blinked at his words, confused as to his greeting. He was usually so happy to see me, nearly overbearingly so, but he looked… serious.

And not his usual brand of seriousness, where he was planning on some scheme to overthrow Uncle Roger either.

So I got into the car with no comment, and had barely put my buckle on before he was speeding away from Mom’s house. I waited for a bit, simply watching him he drove into the city proper. His hands were tight on the wheel, his gaze focused, and it wasn’t long before he started driving down alleys and back roads, which was just  _ weird _ .

“Perry’s been reassigned.” He began, and I suddenly understood. Maybe not completely, because I don’t think even  _ they _ could completely explain their relationship, but I knew that losing Perry had to be hard on him. “We’re going to get him back.”

“Dad, I’m not going to help in an evil scheme.” I told him. I felt bad, but I wasn’t going to become evil just so that I could help get Perry the Platypus back.

“It’s not evil.” He disagreed, stopping the car in some random alley. He climbed out of the car, moving around to the boot and opening it. I watched as he traded his lab coat for a simple jacket that he pulled out of it.

“Then what is it?” I demanded, getting out of the car as he grabbed a duffle bag that he slung over one shoulder.

“It’s justice. And not petty justice, like I usually indulge in.” He said, looking more serious than I’d ever seen him. “Francis wiped my memory, took Perry from his family, and he has to pay for that.”

“...He wiped your memory?” I demanded, the detail sticking out to me even more than the thought of Perry the Platypus having a family.

“I made an -inator, and I remember it all now, but yes.” He quickly explained as he pulled another bag out of the boot of the car. “There was an entire day that was just  _ gone _ .”

Okay, now I was in. My dad was a pain in the neck, he kept trying to conquer the Tri-State Area, but to wipe his memories? Without his consent?

That was too far. Evil or not, and to be honest it was nearly always “not”, Dad didn’t deserve that.

I took the second bag from him and stepped back as he pulled out the car keys. He pressed a button on them, and a moment later I could see two figures in the car. Peeking through the window showed that it was  _ us _ , sitting stock still in the car like we hadn’t just gotten out of it.

“My Distracto-Car-Inator.” Dad explained behind me. “It creates holographic versions of us, and then drives around the city. Anyone tailing us should follow after it.”

Someone was following us? Or was Dad just being careful? I was about to ask, but he was moving again, and I didn’t want to lose him.

He walked up to the street, taking note of the cars that were speeding by. I didn’t ask what he was doing, too confused and freaked out about the entire situation, but Dad seemed to know what he was doing.

At least I hoped he knew what he was doing, because I watched him flag down a car and talk to the driver, getting something out to show them as he did so. After a brief conversion, which included Dad pointing back at me at one point, the driver got out and Dad got in. He then chatted a little more with the now former driver, flagged me over to get in the driver’s seat, and took off.

“What did you tell him?” I asked as we pulled away. Dad seemed a little more relaxed now, a little less worried and serious now that we were in a new car.

“I told him I was a government agent on loan from Canada, here to safeguard the niece of Mayor Roger Doofenshmirtz.” Dad rattled off, fishing a badge out of his pocket to show me. As I took it I noticed two things. First: if it was a fake, it was a  _ damn good _ fake, and second…

“Who’s Octavius Lot?” I asked, looking at the name.

“I am.” Dad explained. “Perry got me in touch with an agent from Cowca, the Canadian Organization Without a Cool Acronym, and she helped me make up some fake credentials with Owca. I’ve never actually  _ used _ it before, but I keep the badge on me, in case of emergencies.”

“You have a fake badge for the agency that you fight with nearly every day?” I asked, mildly shocked.

“Of course not.” He refuted. “I have a  _ real _ badge for the agency that I fight nearly every day.”

“Why Octavius Lot though?” I asked, wondering about the name. Dad was clever, but I didn’t peg him for the type to completely change his name for the sake of an alias. There had to be a meaning to it, some reference that I wasn’t getting.

“The trick is in the first two letters of Octavius,” He smirked, sounding proud of the name, “Oh See Lot. Not a perfect match, but do you know how  _ hard _ it is to hide the word “ocelot” in a name?”

“...why did you get me anyway?” I questioned, chuckling a little as I finally asked the big question.

“Perry gave you a necklace for your birthday.” It was a nice gesture, even if the gift itself had been given nearly a week  _ after _ my actual birthday. “I think he hid a flash drive on it. He asked me to get it, and it was supposedly where no one in Owca would ever think to look.”

“And you think he hid it in my necklace?” It would make sense, no one would think that Perry the Platypus would hide anything important in a necklace given to a teenage girl he barely interacted with.

“I also need your help with something else.” Dad continued.

“What?”

“You’re friends with Candace Flynn, right?”

* * *

**Perry**

There was no surveillance on my family.

My kids had built a roller coaster, had raced chariots down the streets, had built treehouse robots, a plane made of paper, a  _ space station _ . And there was not a single bit of surveillance on them at all.

But then again, I knew for a fact that there was no surveillance on the Murphy family either, or on Heinz’s family for that matter, so I really should have expected Monogram to fuck up something as simple as a threat index.

And my kids were threats, there was no doubt about that, they just weren’t  _ evil _ . They needed to be watched, to make sure that no one kidnapped them and tried to force them to use their talents for evil.

But between the total lack of surveillance on my family, and Heinz’s big distraction in Seattle, Monogram was totally caught off guard when a giant golf ball slammed into Headquarters.

It didn’t hit anything too important, my kids and their friends were far too careful to risk actually hurting anyone, but the building did shake something awful when a golf ball the size of a large bus hit it.

_ “Sir, we need to get you somewhere safe.” _ I signed as I marched into Monogram’s office with a team at my back. Carl was there, helping out with one thing or another, and relayed my message, even as I kept signing.  _ “We are under attack.” _

Monogram agreed, and we led him down deep into the building, towards the bunker that was at the lowest floor. The bunker that was the best that money could buy if you weren’t buying from my boys or from Heinz.

The bunker that no one could get out of after the doors were sealed.

As we entered the bunker, and the team behind moved to seal the door and disable the elevator, I moved to stand on the large table in the middle of the room.

This was it.

I held up a hand, waving it to grab attention. Once everyone was looking at me I grabbed the brim of my hat, bracing myself for what I was about to do. This needed to be done, Monogram had gone too far for us to stop.

And so I removed my fedora, and tossed it down at the feet of the mustached human.

“What are you doing?” Monogram demanded, watching as all the other agents in the room followed my lead and threw their hats into a large pile.

I pulled out another hat, one that Peter had given me only a few minutes before Headquarters got hit, one of the ones that had been delivered just yesterday. This hat was a symbol of our resolve, a symbol of what we were fighting for, and of what we believed in.

This new hat was much the same as my old fedora, the same design and material, but with one key difference: The black band was gone, replaced by a white one that stood out against the dark felt of the hat.

_ “We’re seizing control.” _ I explained, waiting for Carl to translate as all the agents in the room donned their own white banded fedoras.  _ “You are hereby relieved of duty.” _

I watched as a number of agents moved to take down Monogram, Newton the Gnu pulling his arms behind his back to cuff him.

“Why? Agent P, you are one of the best agents this agency has ever seen. Why would you do this?” He demanded as he was subdued.

Well, he deserved an answer for that at least.

_ “You took me from my family.” _ I glared, turning to walk to the doors. I nodded to the agent standing near the controls as I approached.  _ “Open the doors.” _

_ “Yes sir.” _ The agent, a dog, smiled as they input the code and placed their pawprint against a panel. With a great hydraulic hiss the large steel door, six inches thick, rescinded into the ceiling.

And there, waiting on the other side, was my family.

“Oh, there you Perry.”

* * *

**Heinz**

“Well, I can’t say that this isn’t a good look for you Francis.” I smirked as I walked up to the cell that Monobrow had been put in following the Uprising.

“Doofenshmirtz! I should have known this was your doing. When I find out what you did to my agents-” I rolled my eyes as I cut off what was sure to be a long ramble.

“ _ I _ didn’t do anything Francis.  _ You _ did. You took Perry from his home, from his family. Did you really think that he’d simply roll over and take that?” There was a  _ reason _ that I’d never put more than a token effort into uncovering Perry’s civilian address. Because Perry would never forgive me if I ever hurt anyone he truly cared for.

It was why I had such trouble understanding the other me, the one that had turned  _ his _ Perry into a cyborg henchman. How could he do that? How could he betray Perry like that?

“Now, let’s talk about what happens next.” I continued, barreling over whatever else he had to say. “I wanted to turn the Amnesia-Inator on you, see if we couldn’t remove everything about Owca from your memory.”

“But… but I’ve been with the agency for decades!” He protested, backing away from the bars a step.

“Yes, and that’s exactly what Perry the Platypus told me.” I confirmed, smiling at his obvious fear. He deserved to feel that fear, deserved to suffer in terror for a little bit for what he’d done. “But one of his kids, Candace, had a much better idea.”

“And what’s that?” He demanded, glaring at me.

“You’re going to go home, back to your wife, and your nice house, and your soap operas, and whatever else you have there. And you’re never going to bother us again.” I began, and I enjoyed watching him as the realization of his new reality settled on him. The mix of fear and anger that grew and battled each other with every word I said. “You’ll spend the rest of your life under watch, never again allowed to be in a position of power like you were here.”

“And what makes you so sure of that?” He asked, looking like he was about two seconds away from throttling me.

“Because my brother is the Mayor. And he was quite interested in all the missions that you authorized in his city, without his knowledge. And wiping the memory of a number of his citizens, including his  _ brother _ , without his approval.” I may hate Roger sometimes, may have days where I wanted nothing more than for Roger to suffer all the pains and hardships that I’d undergone in my life, but I also wasn’t above giving him proof of everything that he didn’t know about so that he’d be on my side.

The sheer fury on Roger’s face when he learned of what had been done in his city was something beautiful. The offer to meet up when everything was over, to simply  _ talk _ , that Roger gave when he calmed down was… unexpected. 

I wanted to say yes, to sit down and tell Roger of all the ways that my life had been hard, and of the roles he had played in it… but in the end I asked if I could have some time to think it over. Roger gave it, with no hesitation at all, and now I wasn’t sure what to do.

Well, besides tormenting Monobrow. That was a nice distraction.

“He’s arranged for you to be watched. And, just to be safe, they’re all people that have nothing to do with Owca or you, so they won’t be subverted to your side.” I finished. That had been another of Candace’s ideas, and she was quite a clever kid. She’d had a lot of good ideas, and I couldn’t wait to see where she ended up.

If her attitude towards handling the rest of the Uprising held true, and I’d spied her more or less taking over the coordination of taking down the rest of Owca around the world, then she was certainly going places.

Candace Flynn, Director of… well, whatever Owca would turn into after the smoke cleared. It suited her, and I wondered if that’s where she’d end up. And if not? Well, Roger couldn’t be Mayor forever.

She had potential, a lot of it, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see the girl running the country within twenty years if she set her eyes on the Presidency.

“And what about you, Doofenshmirtz? What are you going to do?” Monobrow demanded.

“After I finish helping the others tear down Owca and make something a bit better, I’m going to go home and build my next scheme.” I told him, smiling at the thought. “You see, I’ve always held a deep seated hatred for the color puce. It all began in Gimmelshtump, when I was a boy. The people of Drusselstein have a tradition, where-”

“So you’re just going to go back to being evil? You’ll destroy Owca, and then just continue on like nothing ever happened?” He sounded surprised, and looked like he couldn’t believe what he was hearing.

“...yep.” I nodded. “I can’t wait to see if the new Owca, or whatever it’s called by then, will give Perry the Platypus any new gadgets.”

“Doofenshmirtz... When I get out of this cell, I’ll-” Once more he was cut off, but this time by someone else.

“Agent O, you’re needed in the command room.” I smirked once more at the horrified look on Monobrow’s face. He was positively speechless, and I didn’t blame him. The mantle of command suited Carl, his back was straighter and voice was surer than I could remember it ever being, and the fedora on his head did a lot to make him look serious and important.

“Of course, Director,” I said, using Carl’s new title just to rile up Monobrow a bit more, “I was just telling Francis what was going to happen to him.”

“Just get upstairs Agent O, they need you.” Despite the request I lingered just beyond the doorway a moment, just to see if anything else was said.

“Carl? You’re the Director now?” I heard Monobrow ask, sounding completely floored.

“Well, I was basically running the entire thing anyway, so I just gave myself the title after you were thrown in here.” Director Karl explained. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a lot to do.”

I smiled as I made my way to the command room, ready to lend my expertise in the next part of the plan.

* * *

**Perry**

At four-fifteen in the afternoon, approximately three hours and twenty-nine minutes after a giant golf ball hit the headquarters of the Organization Without A Cool Acronym, the surrender went out.

We had won.

In the days following the surrender two things of note happened.

First: Director Carl Karl, once the personal intern to the former Director, Major Francis Monogram, rallied the agents together into a system that kept evil in check while an overhaul of every single asset of Owca was reviewed and updated.

And second, and far more importantly: I went home.

I was on leave, officially ordered to stay off the field for two weeks. I would normally be worried about that, but Heinz was being kept busy. Agent O, as he was being called in official logs, was spending much of his time on a number of missions around the globe. Heinz may not have had the skills to be a proper agent of Owca, but the man knew his engineering.

And his aeronautics.

And his metallurgy.

And his chemistry.

And his computer sciences.

And who knew how many other fields of study.

The man was a genius, a real one like my boys, and Carl used that to his full advantage. So did Candace, when she could spare the time to help out. She showed a great interest in the agency, and spent a lot of time helping here and there.

I was glad when Heinz told me that he thought she was going places. It was always nice when my nemesis came around to my point of view.

But, in the immediate present, I was helping the boys with their latest creation: a giant ball that was modeled after the legend of the Gordian Knot. It was great fun to actually take part in the activities, and we were all having a great time making the giant ball of knots.

I did wonder how it would disappear, since Heinz was busy. Linda never did see the kids’ Big Ideas, as they called them, even when Heinz’s -inators didn’t get rid of them. But that was a concern for later, and right now I was holding down some rope with Pinky while Candace tied it off into the larger structure of the knot.

I wasn’t entirely sure what had prompted her to take part, rather than trying to drag Linda back home to see it, but I didn’t complain.

I was just happy that my kids were spending time together, and that I got to spend two whole weeks with  _ them _ .

Two weeks. Fourteen days. Three hundred thirty six hours. Twenty thousand one hundred sixty minutes.

And I got to spend it all with my kids.

It was good to be home.

**Author's Note:**

> Yeah, the Vanassa part isn't quite where it should be chronologically. It's just before they went to fire the Remember-Inator (or whatever it's called) on the Flynn-Fletcher kids, and before Heinz went off to Seattle to be a distraction with Peter the Panda. But it's there to break up the Perry sections, so it gets to stay.
> 
> Comments are welcome down below.


End file.
